An alleged gunman in a rugby club car park shooting told a court today that he was not alarmed when he heard police were looking for him - because he knew he was innocent.

Dean Rye, 33, said he knew he could prove that he and friend Anthony Dewing, 20, were not at the club in Guisborough, East Cleveland, when Anthony Walls, 23, was shot in the groin with a hand gun.

Rye and Dewing were in a pub crawl with Walls three days earlier and, hours before the shooting, Walls challenged them to a fight, said roofer Mr Rye.

He said that he was working on houses in Scarborough when he was told that the police were looking for him.

Mr Rye told Teesside Crown Court that he delayed going to the police because he knew he was innocent, and people were relying on him to repair their roofs.

Mr Rye and Mr Dewing both said that at the time of the shooting they were delivering a pushchair to the partner of a friend Michael Caine in Lingdale.

Mr Walls, of Auckland Street, Guisborough, said that he saw his attackers' faces on February 4 before they pulled down their balaclavas. He still has the bullet in his groin.

He alleged that the gunman was Dean Eye who fired as he threw himself to safety across the front seats of his car after Dewing smashed the driver's window.

Mr Rye of Boosbeck Road, Skelton Green, and Mr Dewing of Larch Road, Guisborough, both deny attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

They and Mr Rye's brother Craig, 35, of Eskdale Terrace, Guisborough, also deny wounding him with intent in The Buck Inn, Guisborough on January 31.

The case continues.